Russia to Start Assembling Laptops, Servers, Storage Devices, and PCs Using Chinese State-of-the-art Secret Chips; Their Export to Russia Prohibited

In Russia, the assembly of laptops, servers, data storage systems, and PCs using China's top secret chips will commence. These chips cannot be exported to Russia due to Chinese government's ban. "Norsi-Trans" and several other companies plan to start producing data storage systems, servers, and computers using the Loongson processors, a technology that China has prohibited from being exported beyond its borders since December 2022. Yet the first shipment of 100 of the company's most advanced chips has been purchased, with current efforts being focused on adapting Russian Linux distributions of the "Alt" assortment to these chips.

Chinese over Russian

The domestic production of data storage system in Russia using Chinese Loongson processors is about to begin, according to "Kommersant". This is a significant precedent, as by the end of 2022, Chinese authorities declared all Loongson's products, which include processors, patents, and LoongArch architecture, to be strategically important. At the same time, the export of Loongson processors was banned, whether individually, in batches, or as part of finished assemblies. As of the date of the publication, no official announcement about the lifting of this ban has been made.

Norsi-Trans, one of Russia's most prominent data storage system manufacturers, will take on the role of producing data storage systems with Loongson CPUs. However, the company's products will not be restricted to these somewhat niche devices. The company intends to initiate the production of laptops and personal computers based on Loongson chips.

Norsi-Trans will collaborate with Basalt-SPO in this venture, a company that develops Alt-family operating systems based on Linux. Its role in the project will be to train its OSs to operate on computers with Loongson processors.

Just Getting Started

"Kommersant", citing Sergei Ovchinnikov, the CEO of Norsi-Trans, reported that the company had started by purchasing a minimal batch of Loongson processors, only 100 chips, which will be used to assemble a test batch of equipment. Ovchinnikov did not specify what Norsi-Trans plans to release as pilot devices — whether it's data storage systems, laptops, PCs, or all at once.

Simultaneously, it is known that at least the devices from the first batch will not reach individual customers, as they are targeting corporate clients, as well as government corporations and organizations. It will be impossible to establish direct deliveries in the latter case, all the ready-to-be-produced devices with Loongson processors inside will need to go through government procurement and be entered into the registry of domestic electronics supervised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Settling on a Choice

Loongson boasts a variety of processors, yet Norsi-Trans is only interested in the most advanced models. Chief executive of the consortium of Russian data storage system developers Oleg Izumrudov conveyed that the company required the 5000 series processors. Izumrudov emphasized that these CPUs are comparable in performance with the Intel Core i5 10th generation, which was released in the fall of 2020, and partially discontinued in the summer of 2023.

When it comes to the chips themselves, the powerful 3D5000, the most powerful in the 5000 series, is comprised of two 3C5000 processors in a single 75.4x58.5 mm unit.

Importantly, Russia currently lacks modern electronics production. The existing abilities within the country are capable of producing chips up to a 65-nanometer topology from almost 20 years ago. Even in this challenging situation, where access to Western processors and documentation is obstructed, it seems logical for Russian developers to turn to using processors from friendly countries as reflected in words of Maxim Koposov (known for Bitblaze brand laptops), the CEO of Promobit.

Notably, Intel and AMD processors, which form the basis of the vast majority of desktop PCs, servers, laptops, and data storage systems assembled and sold in Russia, are not officially supplied to the country. Additionally, the production of Russian ARM processors "Baikal" and "Elbrus" have been halted abroad.

About Loongson

Loongson is a brand of the BLX IC Design Corp., Ltd. , founded in 2002 by employees of the Computer Technology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Jiangsu Zhongy Group. From the very beginning, it has been focused on developing its own LoongArch architecture, to ensure independence from external developments, especially from x86 and ARM.

LoongArch supports about 2000 unique instructions. Developers claim that their architecture does not infringe patents associated with x86, ARM, MIPS, RISC-V, and others.